Nonagitating cooker



July 14, 1925. 1,546,045

A. R, THOMPSON NONAGITATING COOKER Fil'dn. 26, 1924 Patented July 14, 1925.

.UNITED' STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT R. THOMPSON, OFSAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO ANDERSON-BARN- GROVER MFG. (20., OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

NONAGI'IATING COOKER.

Application filed December 28, 1924. Serial No. 758,315.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT R. THOMPSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Jose, in the county of Santa Clara and State of California, have invented certain Although such appliances and their seve.v

eral purposes are of varied character, I- shall herein refer, as best illustrative of my present improvement, to those machines known in the art as cookers but it will. be understood, from the object- I have in view, that my invention is applicable to other can-handling machines and devices wherein, for any purpose, the product filled containers are carried in and through a predetermined path.

A cooker, briefly described, is a machine comprising a casing or shell having an inlet to which the filled cans are fed and an outlet from which they are discharged"; means within the shell for advancing the cans from the inlet to the outlet; and means for subjecting the cans to heat during their progress through the shell. The path of progress varies with the special type of machine as does also the advancing means, but in the type of cooker which for illustration I have herein selected, the path is a helical one and the conveying means comprises a reel of can carrying rails revoluble about a horizontal axis, and circumscribed by af he-lically directed fixed rail. Cookers of this t pe are now well known and are extensive y used, and, therefore, need no special description in full detail.

In the canning art, it was early found that in processing the filled cans, especially in cookers, it was of advantage to cause each can in addition to its major revolution with the reel, to roll on its axis while advancing in the treating path thereby more fully agitating the can contentsand thus providing for an equable heat subjection.

This-rolling of the cans has been effected in various ways, and in the type of cooker herein illustrated the means employed are simple and direct, the result of the peculiar structure of-the path through which the cans pass. The cans, lying freely endwise in the carryin rails of the rotating reel and their ends 1n contact with adjacent coils of the helically directed fixed rail, are carrled around by said reel in successive major revolutions inclined to the reel axis. But slnce the cans peripherally lie between the bases of the reel rails and the foot flanges of the fixed helical rail, they roll upon said foot-flanges, each can thus having a rotation upon its own axis in addition to its general or major revolution about the reel axis, such additional rotation being less pronounced and even absent in the upper arc of revolution since in this region the cans rest by gravity upon the reel rails and are in slight contact or not at all, with the foot flanges of the fixed helical rail, while in the lower arc of revolution, the cans rest by gravity wholly upon'said foot flanges.

It has since been found, however, the agitation as the result of this rolling is not wholly desirable in treating certain kinds of food products. For example in canning peas the agitation is a detriment, in that it clouds the liquor content of the can, ,which effect, for want of a better explanation, I ascribe to the separating out of starchy matter; and in the canning of tender berries, the effect of the agitation is to break them down.

In the case of peas, particularly, the season is a short one, and if increasing the volume passing through the cooker be resorted to, the machine itself must be lengthened to meet the increase, and this only heightens the undesirable effect of the agitation, and materially adds to the cost of the machine,

In the light of the foregoing my present improvement and its object will readily be understood.

My object is to provide .a machine of the type above referred to, which while 00.nveying the filled cans in the helical'path found in practise to be eflicient, will revent the cans from independgrtly r01 ing on their individual axes, thuf eliminating all agitation exceptthat which may result now fully describe by reference to the ac com'panying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section, broken at both ends, of the machine. Fig. 2.is an end view of the same.

In the drawings, 1 have not attempted to show in full a complete cooker, since such detail is not essential to a full understanding of my improvement. Therefore, I have omitted the general frame, the driving mechanism, the-treating medium and the means for applying said medium.

1 is the casing or shell of the machine. 2 is a rail fixed to the inner surface of the shell and helically directed therein from endto end. This rail, in practise, is best formed of T-seetion, with its leg flan'ge extending inwardly and its foot flanges lying parallel with the shell wall, as seen in Fig. 1.

3 is a rotatable shaft extending through the shell inits axis. Upon this shaft are fixed heads one of which designated by 4; is here shown.

Carried by the periphery of these heads are the can supporting rails 5. These are best formed of angle section, as seen in Fig. 2, with one flange extending radially outwardly and the other lying upon the head periphery. There is an annular series of these rails spaced apart and extending parallel with the axis of revolution.

The shaft 3, heads 4 and rails 5 thus constitute a reel rotatable about a horizontal axis and-lying'within the fixed helically directed rail 2. All these parts arethose usual to this type of machine, and they are so related as to form the usual helical can path,

P the cans indicated by 6, in dotted lines, ly-

ing between the reelrails 5 and the fixed rail 2, the periphery of the cans being .sur-.

rounded by said rails and the outer portions of the ends of the cans being flanked by the inwardly extending flanges of the coils of the fixed rail.

My improvement consists in means for preventing contact of the can periphery during the revolution of the can about the'reel axis with any surface of the can path fixedrail is of T-section, said fixed surface comprises the foot flanges of said rail.

The means here shown for thus positioning the can in its path comprise uard members 7 with which the outer edges. of the radial flanges of the reel rails 5 are provided. These guard members are shaped and positioned to permit the can periphery to protrude sufficiently to enable the ends of the can to be engaged by the inwardly extending flanges of the coils of the fixed rail 2,

but not suiiiciently to allow said periphery to contact with the foot flanges of said rail. These guard members 7 while not functioning during the upper are of the major revolution, function in full duringthe lower arc of said revolution, and positively holdand support the can periphery out of contact with the foot flanges of the fixed rail 2, whereas if they were not present, the can of revolution, fall to and rest upon'said foot flanges and so roll on its own axis. But with the guard members such contact rolling is prevented.

I claim 1. A can-handling machine comprising an outer shell; an inwardly extending. fixed can-advancing rail within-the shell and heli- 'cally directed throughout its length; a reel of horizontally directed outwardly extending can-carrying rails mounted within the shell and rotatable within the fixed rail about the axis thereof, said fixed and rotatable rails constituting means for receiving and advancing the cans in a helical path through the shell, and means for holdlng the cans in the can-carrying rails out of peripheral contact, during their revolution, with a fixed-surface of said path, to prevent them from rolling thereon.

2. A can-handling machine comprising an outer shell; an inwardly extending fixed .tending can-carrying rails mounted within the shell and rotatable within the fixed rail about the axis thereof, said fixed and rotatable rails constituting means for receiving and advancing the cans in a helical path through the shell; and guard, members carried by the outer edges of the reel ralls for holding the cans, during their revolut on with the reel, out of peripheralcontact with a fixed surface of said path, to prevent them from rolling thereon.

. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ALBERT R. THOMPSON.

would, while passing through said lower are 

